Every single person who claims to love gadgets know that most of the products they love are actually manufactured or assembled in China. And it’s not really surprising considering that companies save a lot of money if they transfer manufacturing in a country that has cheap labor. One other thing that China has become famous for is the proliferation of counterfeit and fake products. Most bootleggers and manufacturers of fake products are based in China so it has become a hub for knock-off items.
China’s reputation for being the center of operations for fake products is already widespread. It’s something that we’ve come to acknowledge as part of the status quo and have learned to live with. But a recent news item has taken counterfeiting in China to a completely new direction. Reports have come out that there are stores in Kunming, China that are posing as actual Apple stores. Yes, there are counterfeit stores in China.
These fake Apple stores have copied many of the features of legitimate Apple stores. It has the same interiors, layout, even the furnishings have been imitated. The staff are also made to look like actual Apple staff, complete with the blue t-shirts, a trademark of legitimate Apple employees. But just like imitations, everything is just skin-deep. Closer inspection of the stores reveal that the construction is subpar. The sad thing is that the employees hired in these stores really think they have been hired to work in a legitimate Apple store. Even the employees have been duped. To be fair, there really are legitimate Apple stores in China, but none of them are located in Kunming. According to reports, the Kunming fake Apple store is not an isolated case. There are a number of fake Apple stores operating in the country. The question though is whether these fake stores are selling original Apple products or if they’re selling fake Apple devices.